Events (original) (raw)
Index: Censorship
Mar 3,
1873
Comstock Act Passed – Era of Censorship Begins
Mar 29,
1913
Theodore Roosevelt Warns That U.S. Threatened by “European Extremists” — Artists
Apr 2,
1914
Post Office Bans Margaret Sanger’s “Woman Rebel”
May 16,
1914
Judge Learned Hand Rebukes Anti-Obscenity Crusader Anthony Comstock
Feb 8,
1915
“Birth of a Nation” Opens: A Century of Controversy Follows
Jul 7,
1917
Government Repression Hits Socialist Opponents of War
Jul 13,
1917
Activists Protest Post Office Censorship of Anti-War Publications
Sep 11,
1917
Emma Goldman Speech Banned in New York – Appears On Stage Gagged
Sep 26,
1917
Post Office to Ban Emma Goldman’s “Mother Earth”
Nov 1,
1917
National Civil Liberties Bureau Reports Sweeping Government Censorship
Feb 7,
1919
Society Women Oppose “Indecent” Evening Gowns
Jul 4,
1919
Police Threats Cancel Civil Liberties Bureau Meeting at Carnegie Hall
Feb 14,
1921
Obscenity Charges for Publishing “Ulysses”
Mar 5,
1921
Will Hays Becomes Postmaster General; Ends Some, But Not All, Post Office Censorship
Jun 16,
1921
Atlantic City Beach Scene Rejected by New York State Film Censors
Aug 1,
1921
New York Motion Picture Commission Begins Work – Censorship Ahead
Feb 2,
1922
James Joyce’s “Ulysses” Published, Faces Immediate Censorship
Aug 12,
1922
Groups Launch “War on Censorship”
Sep 7,
1922
Post Office Lifts Ban on Alexander Berkman’s “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist”
Dec 8,
1922
“Birth of a Nation” Denied Permit in New York City
Mar 26,
1927
Will Hays Asks for Constitutional Amendment to Protect Movies From Censorship
Oct 14,
1927
Do Pajamas = Nudity? NYC DA Threatens Theater Prosecutions
Oct 14,
1927
Irish-American Groups Seek Ban on Films That Offend Racial or Religious Groups
Feb 1,
1928
Post Office Bans “Protest Against the Marines in Nicaragua” Stickers on Envelopes
Apr 16,
1929
“An American Tragedy:” Obscenity Trial Opens in Boston
Jul 26,
1929
Lesbian Themed “The Well of Loneliness” Held Not Obscene by U.S. Customs Court
Jan 12,
1930
ACLU Demands Inquiry into Missing Files in Dismissed Birth Control and Censorship Cases
Feb 19,
1930
Early Hollywood Censorship Code Adopted
Mar 31,
1930
Hollywood Censorship: Early Production Code Adopted
Nov 28,
1931
NYC Police Raid Anti-Fascist Newspaper’s Office – ACLU Protests
Dec 6,
1933
Classic Novel “Ulysses” Ruled Not Pornographic!
Jun 13,
1934
Notorious Movie Censorship Code Adopted
Jul 27,
1935
“Ecstasy” is Burning!
Jan 11,
1936
Tulsa Bans Play “Tobacco Road”
Jul 16,
1936
Westchester County Continues Ban on Men’s Topless Swim Suits
Dec 19,
1936
ACLU Charges Widespread Radio Censorship
Jun 13,
1937
“Cradle Will Rock” Defies Government Censorship, Opens in Different Theater
Apr 11,
1938
“Birth of a Baby” Public Health Photographs Called Obscene
Feb 25,
1939
Once-Banned Film Opens; “Near-Adolescent Riot” Ensues
Jun 19,
1939
American Library Association Adopts Library Bill of Rights
Sep 15,
1939
Censor Ruling Reversed: OK to Show Film of Unmarried French Peasants
Dec 7,
1942
“Native Son” Play, Temporarily Closed Under Catholic Pressure, Reopens in NYC
Nov 18,
1943
Liberal, Racial Minority, and Labor Groups Urge Post Office Ban on Hate Mail
Apr 4,
1944
“Strange Fruit,” The Novel, Banned in Boston
May 13,
1946
U.S. Occupying Forces Destroy Books in Germany
Feb 23,
1947
ACLU Urges NY Governor to Veto Film Censorship Bill
May 26,
1947
FBI Memo Attacks “It’s A Wonderful Life” As Subversive, Anti-Capitalist Propaganda
Mar 26,
1948
Philadelphia Police Seize 2,000 Books; Authors Protest
Jul 13,
1948
Groups Protest NYC Public Schools Ban on “The Nation” Magazine
Oct 1,
1948
Guilty of Speaking in the Park
Dec 10,
1948
“Respectful Prostitute” Play Banned in Chicago Over Race Issues
Jan 21,
1950
“Fear Obscures Reason,” Justice Hugo Black Warns of Cold War Hysteria
Feb 28,
1950
Gov. Earl Warren Opposes University of California Loyalty Oath
Mar 14,
1950
Actress Ingrid Bergman’s Affair Provokes Scandal and a Civil Liberties Crisis
Jan 26,
1951
No Liberal Magazines for Los Angeles Students
Feb 11,
1952
Oklahoma City Burns Books for “Socialism and Sex”
May 26,
1952
“The Miracle!” Movies Protected by First Amendment
Dec 8,
1952
“I Love Lucy,” But Just Don’t Say She’s ‘Pregnant’
Jan 19,
1953
“Lucy Goes to the Hospital” – Just Doesn’t Say Why
Mar 19,
1953
Howard Hughes Explains How to Make the Hollywood Blacklist Really Work
Jul 8,
1953
Eeek! A Virgin! The Film “The Moon is Blue” Premiers in New York
May 22,
1955
Lock Up Your Teenagers! Fats is Coming
Jun 10,
1955
Censorship Office: Film on Famous Scopes Trial “Unfair” to “Religious-Thinking People”
Dec 15,
1955
“Man With the Golden Arm” Opens Without Hollywood Seal of Approval – Challenges Censorship Code
Jun 3,
1957
You Can’t Read “Howl”! Publisher of Now-Classic Poem Arrested
Sep 18,
1958
Cincinnati Public Library Bans “Lolita,” Acclaimed Novel
Apr 16,
1959
“Just Don’t Mention Gas Chambers;” CBS Censors TV Program on Nuremberg Trials
Oct 15,
1961
Hunter College Denies Permit to Conservative “National Review” – ACLU to Defend Magazine
Mar 14,
1962
Bridgeport, CT, Police Chief Bans Novel, “The Carpetbaggers” – Connecticut ACLU to Sue
Mar 20,
1963
Joan Baez Boycotts “Hootenanny” Over Blacklist
Jun 9,
1964
CIA Pressures Publisher of Second-Ever Book on Agency
Jan 15,
1967
Let’s Spend “Some Time” Together – Rolling Stones Censor Themselves on Ed Sullivan Show
May 8,
1967
“Redrup:” Supreme Court Gives Up Trying to Define Obscenity
Mar 10,
1969
Civil Rights Demonstrations Upheld: “Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham”
Apr 4,
1969
CBS Cancels Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Apr 1,
1970
Grateful Dead Provokes First-Ever FCC Indecency Fine
Apr 13,
1970
Nine Women’s Liberation Activists Arrested for Sit-in at Grove Press, Pioneering Anti-Censorship Publisher
Mar 2,
1973
George Carlin Records Famous “Seven Dirty Words” Monologue
Oct 30,
1973
Cover Your Ears! George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words Broadcast
Feb 9,
1974
Chicago Bans “Impeach Nixon” Signs From Buses, Trains; ACLU Sues
May 21,
1976
Morris L. Ernst, Pioneering Civil Liberties Attorney, Dies
Mar 9,
1979
“The Secret That Exploded” — The Progressive Magazine Enjoined from Publishing Article on Making an H-Bomb
Jun 25,
1982
Public School Library Censorship: “Island Trees v. Pico”
Aug 12,
1982
Long Island, NY, School Board Voluntarily Returns Banned Books to School Library
May 18,
1984
ACLU Issues “Free Trade in Ideas” Report; Condemns Reagan Administration Actions
Feb 25,
1985
Ed Meese Becomes Attorney General; Leads Assault on Civil Liberties
Feb 8,
1996
President Clinton Signs Communications Decency Act; ACLU Immediately Sues
May 12,
1996
Three Federal Judges Visit Internet Porn Sites in Communications Decency Case
Jun 26,
1997
Communications Decency Act Held Unconstitutional
Sep 30,
2009
International Blasphemy Day Founded
Jan 29,
2010
Too Much Anne Frank Sexuality! Virginia Parents Object
Jun 27,
2011
Supreme Court Invalidates California Video Games Censorship Law
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